The benchmark index may have sunk notably lower on Tuesday, but not all sides of the market fell deep into the red.
One group of shares that are posting strong gains today are the lithium miners.
While not all shares in the industry managed to push higher, the likes of Altura Mining Ltd (ASX: AJM), Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY), and Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) have been on fire today.
The Orocobre share price was arguably the star performer, finishing the day almost 11.5% higher at $4.68.
Altura Mining's shares weren't far behind with an 11% gain to 25.5 cents, followed by Galaxy with its 7% rise to $2.69.
Fellow lithium miner Kidman Resources Ltd (ASX: KDR) missed out on the run higher. Though, I suspect this will remain the case while its future hangs in the balance.
Why are lithium miners rallying higher?
For Orocobre, I think the appointment of Martin Perez de Solay as its new chief executive officer and managing director could have been a catalyst for its strong performance.
After an extensive global search by recruitment specialist Egon Zehnder, Mr Perez de Solay was appointed to the role. Investors appear to be pleased that the new CEO will be based in Argentina where its key Olaroz operation is.
Furthermore, he has stated that he intends to utilise his extensive operational expertise and in-country knowledge for the maximum benefit of shareholders.
As for Altura Mining and Galaxy, with no news out of either company, today's move higher is a bit of a mystery.
One thing of note over the last 24 hours, however, are reports that electric car company Tesla is nearing profitability.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk tweeted a music video of the hip-hop song called O.P.P. This has been interpreted by the market as a veiled reference to Tesla being operating profit positive following the end of its third quarter. Mr Musk has previously promised that Tesla would deliver a profit this quarter.
If Tesla is profitable then this could be good news for the electric car market and of course for companies that produce the ingredients that go inside rechargeable batteries.
Another more simple explanation could just be that these shares are among the most volatile on the market and are well known for swinging wildly, especially on low volume trading days. Time will tell if they are able to hold onto these gains this time.
